Is it natural to dread the survey when selling?

bclark

We have just accepted an offer on our house and it will be the first time we are selling after buying this as our first place almost 9 years ago.

The thing is that I am now just absolute dreading the survey! Its an old Victorian house and don't get me wrong I think its in good nick but due to its age it does have a few rough edges!

Is this a natural worry that people have? I suppose when its your house you know all about its little faults and worry that they will all get picked up on.

yoyoegg

Aye, your buyer will certainly drop their offer by £30k to £40k once they have been alerted to the dodgy wiring, evidence of damp, 'nail sick' roofing, 'blown' plaster, weak mortar used in chimney-breast, cracks indicating movement, asbestos-based products and probability the sewers will collapse.

chris_m

Not that the survey will actually say much of that - it's more likely to suggest in wooly terms that the potential purchaser appoints an electrician, a damp specialist, a builder, etc., etc. The surveyor is unlikely to stick his neck out very far unless it's really dire.

phoebe1989seb

It does seem that surveyors/lenders are erring more on the side of caution these days, so the last three house sales we've been involved in have given me some cause for concern on that front - although as it turned out I needn't have worried too much and you too might be getting stressed unnecessarily (not that this means you should be too laid back of course!)

1) 2007 - selling large Victorian house that we'd bought as a complete wreck 10 years previously. We'd had a structural survey done and it showed up all sorts of issues - mainly because the then owner had converted it to four flats which he'd then proceeded to bodge whenever works were required. We had (hopefully) rectified most issues, but even so anyone spending that kind of money would surely want to satisfy themselves/their mortgage provider that all was well........well, no in actual fact. We sold to cash buyers who took the view that as an older property there were bound to be a few problems, but that went with the territory - best kind of buyer IMHO

2) 2011 - selling reconstructed Tudor house with 1930s additions. We'd not had a survey done when we bought so we were quite worried that all manner of unmentionables would surface in a survey, even though again we had carried out major work such as rewiring. Our buyers did have a Homebuyer's Report, but despite the surveyor making some schoolboy errors - believing a new water cylinder to be an old asbestos type for starters - he valued it at the price we'd agreed and our buyers made no attempt to beat us down over the minor points he raised.

3) 2012 - selling my parents' house that they'd purchased in 1963. Whilst they had kept it in a very good state of repair, it was dated (1960s wiring, 1980s kitchen) and had a few cracks (that I was really concerned would throw a spanner in the works) from bomb-damage to a neighbouring house in WW2. The buyers dropped their offer from £250k to £235k after the Homebuyer's Report and we thought the renegotiated price of £238k was fair at the end of the day......

On all three occasions we made a concerted effort prior to marketing (and prior to survey in 2 out of 3 cases) to finish any little jobs and ensure the house appeared well maintained, eg, clearing out gutters, replacing cracked roof tiles, as well as making sure we had copies of relevant paperwork where possible. So in my personal experience keeping on top of the situation, being concerned (but not to the extent of having sleepless nights) paid off. If you do that you (hopefully!) shouldn't have too much to worry about

moneyistooshorttomention

Well - you pays your money and you takes your choice.

As you say - its a Victorian house. If it's been set at an average Victorian house price - then its a reasonable condition one for a Victorian house. If they want a perfect house, then they either buy a top-price Victorian house and hope or they buy a modern shoebox (which will likely cost them loads more than even a top-price Victorian one).

In my area, for instance, the equivalent size brand new shoeboxes currently up for sale are around £50,000 dearer than my spacious Victorian one. So I just take the view - "you want perfect, then pay £50,000 more. Otherwise you get Victorian". BTW - guess who the neighbours will be for some of those modern shoeboxes :eek: and you definitely want my Victorian one ....

arbrighton

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Well - you pays your money and you takes your choice.

As you say - its a Victorian house. If it's been set at an average Victorian house price - then its a reasonable condition one for a Victorian house. If they want a perfect house, then they either buy a top-price Victorian house and hope or they buy a modern shoebox (which will likely cost them loads more than even a top-price Victorian one).

In my area, for instance, the equivalent size brand new shoeboxes currently up for sale are around £50,000 dearer than my spacious Victorian one. So I just take the view - "you want perfect, then pay £50,000 more. Otherwise you get Victorian". BTW - guess who the neighbours will be for some of those modern shoeboxes :eek: and you definitely want my Victorian one ....

That's assuming the shoeboxes aren't a mass produced rush job with no attention to detail or care anyway...

Running_Horse

Depends on the eagerness of the buyer and the normal workload of the surveyor. We had a spoilt rich kid using Daddies money appoint a surveyor from outside the area who made our house sound like it was falling down, and they demanded a 20% discount. It fell through and the next buyers were a normal couple with a mortgage who appointed a local surveyor who normally dealt with our type of house. We got full asking price with no request for reduction.